Brolga Research Articles

The competition between Bidens pilosa and Setaria viridis alters soil microbial composition and soil ecological function

Bidens pilosa is recognized as one of the major invasive plants in China. Its invasion has been associated with significant losses in agriculture, forestry, husbandry, and biodiversity. Soil ecosystems play an important role in alien plant invasion. Microorganisms within the soil act as intermediaries between plants and soil ecological functions, playing a role in regulating soil enzyme activities and nutrient dynamics. Understanding the interactions between invasive plants, soil microorganisms, and soil ecological processes is vital for managing and mitigating the impacts of invasive species on the environment. In this study, we conducted a systematic analysis focusing on B. pilosa and Setaria viridis, a common native companion plant in the invaded area. To simulate the invasion process of B. pilosa, we constructed homogeneous plots consisting of B. pilosa and S. viridis grown separately as monocultures, as well as in mixtures. The rhizosphere and bulk soils were collected from the alien plant B. pilosa and the native plant S. viridis. In order to focus on the soil ecological functional mechanisms that contribute to the successful invasion of B. pilosa, we analyzed the effects of B. pilosa on the composition of soil microbial communities and soil ecological functions. The results showed that the biomass of B. pilosa increased by 27.51% and that of S. viridis was significantly reduced by 66.56%. The organic matter contents in the bulk and rhizosphere soils of B. pilosa were approximately 1.30 times those in the native plant soils. The TN and NO3– contents in the rhizosphere soil of B. pilosa were 1.30 to 2.71 times those in the native plant soils. The activities of acid phosphatase, alkaline phosphatase, and urease in the rhizosphere soil of B. pilosa were 1.98–2.25 times higher than in the native plant soils. Using high-throughput sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene, we found that B. pilosa altered the composition of the soil microbial community. Specifically, many genera in Actinobacteria and Proteobacteria were enriched in B. pilosa soils. Further correlation analyses verified that these genera had significantly positive relationships with soil nutrients and enzyme activities. Plant biomass, soil pH, and the contents of organic matter, TN, NO3–, TP, AP, TK, and AK were the main factors affecting soil microbial communities. This study showed that the invasion of B. pilosa led to significant alterations in the composition of the soil microbial communities. These changes were closely linked to modifications in plant traits as well as soil physical and chemical properties. Some microbial species related to C, N and P cycling were enriched in the soil invaded by B. pilosa. These findings provide additional support for the hypothesis of soil-microbe feedback in the successful invasion of alien plants. They also offer insights into the ecological mechanism by which soil microbes contribute to the successful invasion of B. pilosa. Overall, our research contributes to a better understanding of the complex interactions between invasive plants, soil microbial communities, and ecosystem dynamics.

New records and a review of animal foods in the diets of the Brolga Antigone rubicunda and Australian Sarus Crane A. antigone gillae

Cranes are opportunistic omnivores, sometimes considered to be primarily vegetarian. However, there is limited knowledge in Australia of their animal prey and its importance in their diets. From field records in 2006–2021, we report novel foods including fish and crabs taken by adult Australian Sarus Cranes Antigone antigone gillae and the first records of the foods of their dependent young (crabs and grasshoppers). For Brolgas A. rubicunda, we report the first records of ducklings as prey, and of crabs, beetles and grasshoppers fed to dependent young. Both species have learnt to prey on rodents displaced or killed by sugar cane harvesting machinery in northern Queensland. A review of diet records since 1810 also reveals some overlooked foods and food-handling methods but, despite a sighting of a Brolga ingesting a whole Cane Toad Rhinella marina, there is no evidence of immunity to the toad’s toxin in either species of crane. The plant and animal components of the diet of the dependent young of both species remain almost unknown and there are also significant knowledge gaps for the animal prey of adult Australian Sarus Cranes; the vertebrate prey of adult Brolgas; and the balance of prey types for both species in the breeding and non-breeding seasons. To advance knowledge of crane diets and nutritional ecology in Australia and New Guinea, direct field techniques including faecal sampling, collection of shed feathers and camera trapping could be undertaken, supported by remote electronic technologies in relatively inaccessible breeding wetlands. Meanwhile – in anticipation of the forthcoming revision of the Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds – we urge fieldworkers, birdwatchers and others to examine their field notes for unpublished information on crane foraging and food items, especially for the dependent young of Brolgas and Australian Sarus Cranes.

Indian “Native Companions” and Korean Camptown Women: Unpacking Coloniality in Transnational Surrogacy and Transnational Adoption

The article argues that transnational adoption and surrogacy from South Korea and India are shaped through US and British imperial and colonial histories in Korea and India respectively. We focus on the reproductive labor of “native companions” in early British India and kijich’on (camptown) women in post–World War II Korea. The management of native women’s sexuality was crucial for maintaining social order, political stability, and for consolidating capitalism through the commodification and devaluation of colonized reproductive labor. The configuration of historical legacies is unpacked through the idea of coloniality, the constitutive dark side of modernity, which reproduces subalternity and exploitation of racialized bodies. The reproductive labour of Korean birth mothers and Indian surrogate mothers is formed and shaped by the colonial and imperial formations of gender, sexuality, kinship and family, in which white supremacy and exploitation of Indian and Korean women was at the core. We argue that these formations are re-configured in the present through three mechanisms that enable contemporary practices of adoption and surrogacy: the transformation of waste into profit, the erasure of non-white mothers, and the trope of the white savior.

Partial migration of Brolgas (Antigone rubicunda) within a restricted range is revealed by GPS tracking

ABSTRACT No quantitative information exists on the movement patterns of Brolga, Antigone rubicunda (Gruidae) although the species is considered to undertake seasonal movements between breeding and non-breeding areas, and has been also described as both non-migratory and partly migratory. Information on this species’ movement behaviour is required to understand its basic ecology and inform conservation management across its range. Thus, we sought to investigate whether Brolgas in southern Australia undertake seasonal movements, to define routes travelled by individuals, and to clarify the species’ migratory status. Here, for the first time for this species, we quantified the distances travelled, timing of movements between breeding and non-breeding areas, and individual-level differences in movement patterns. We deployed GPS transmitters on five adults, six juvenile and 12 unfledged 6–9 week chicks in Victoria, Australia. Individuals were monitored for 71–646 days. These Brolgas showed partial migratory behaviour, with the south-west Victorian population including resident and migrating individuals, moving 6–30 km and 96–111 km between breeding and non-breeding areas respectively and some remaining resident throughout the year. Brolgas moved 1.6 km from roost to foraging areas on average throughout the year, the majority (95%) of these movements were within 5.2 km and overall Brolgas moved shortest distances during the non-breeding season. We discuss the main potential drivers for these movement patterns. These findings may assist local conservation planning and add to our understanding of Australian waterbird movements more broadly.

First observation of a Brolga Antigone rubicunda preying on eggs and of ‘water-kicking’ behaviour by Australasian Grebes Tachybaptus novaehollandiae as a nest-defence

We report a novel observation of Australian waterbird behaviour: a Brolga Antigone rubicunda preying on eggs of the Australasian Grebe Tachybaptus novaeholliandiae , the first record of birds’ eggs in the diet of a crane in Australia. We also report ‘water-kicking’ by the Australasian Grebe, the first record of this anti-predator behaviour in the species. Neither Brolga diet nor display behaviours of the Australasian Grebe have been systematically investigated, and we suggest avenues for further studies of egg predation and parental defence behaviours in waterbird breeding wetlands.

Breeding home range movements of pre-fledged brolga chicks, Antigone rubicunda (Gruidae) in Victoria, Australia – Implications for wind farm planning and conservation

Built infrastructure, such as wind farms and power lines, can impair wildlife movement. These barriers may displace individuals from important habitats due to direct mortality or disturbance. Understanding animal movement patterns can help avoid such impacts and manage population level effects. Avoiding impacts and implementing mitigation strategies is difficult when movement and home range information is lacking. Impact at breeding sites may negatively affect population recruitment. The number of wind farm developments is increasing in southern Australia within the core range of the south-eastern brolga (Antigone rubicunda) population. The main threats to this wetland bird include habitat loss, chick predation and collisions with power lines and fences. Wind farms may increase collision and mortality risk, and habitat displacement but the impact is difficult to assess or mitigate, as movement patterns and home range size are unknown. We deployed 11 GPS transmitters on pre-fledged brolga chicks at breeding sites in 2010–2012, including one at a wind farm, to investigate movement and home range use of brolga chicks. Brolga chicks moved 442 m on average, to and from night roost wetlands (range: 0 m–1964 m). The average breeding home range was 232 ha, estimated with a Brownian bridge movement model at 95% UD, but varied greatly between individuals (70 ha–523 ha). Brolgas used either single or multiple wetlands, and those using multiple wetlands either switched between them or relocated permanently. Information from this study can be used to design turbine–free buffers at brolga breeding sites and to manage breeding wetlands.

Microsatellite loci and the complete mitochondrial DNA sequence characterised through next-generation sequencing and de novo genome assembly, and a preliminary assessment of population genetic structure for the Australian crane, Antigone rubicunda

The Brolga ( Antigone rubicunda) is a large Australian crane species with a broad distribution spanning from the tropical north to the south-eastern regions of the continent. Brolga populations throughout New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia have been in decline since the early twentieth century, with the species being listed as vulnerable in each state. To aid future conservation of the species, its taxonomic status needs to be validated, and patterns of gene flow and population connectivity across the species distribution need to be understood. To assist future genetic studies, we developed a suite of polymorphic microsatellite markers and the complete mitochondrial genome sequence by next-generation sequencing. A total of 18 polymorphic loci were characterised using DNA extractions from 47 individuals, comprising 30 and 17 individuals from Victoria and northern Australia, respectively. We observed moderate genetic variation across loci with only a single locus deviating significantly from Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium. De novo and reference-based genome assemblies were used to assemble the A. rubicunda mitochondrial genome sequence, which consists of 16,700 base pairs, and a typical metazoan mitochondrial gene content and arrangement. We test these new markers by conducting a preliminary analysis of genetic structure between south-eastern and northern Australian Brolga populations. Mitochondrial analyses provided evidence of shared haplotypes across the species range supporting the conspecific status of extant populations, while microsatellite markers indicated weak but significant genetic differentiation suggesting gene flow is limited. We discuss the implications of these findings and the benefits that these genetic markers will provide for future population genetic research on this iconic Australian bird species.

Agriculture, brolgas and Australian sarus cranes on the Atherton Tablelands, Australia

Flocks of brolgas (Antigone rubicunda) and Australian sarus cranes (A. antigone gillae) congregate in cropping areas of the Atherton Tablelands in north Queensland, Australia, during the non-breeding months of May to December each year and sometimes come into conflict with farmers. The central part of the region has been declared a Key Biodiversity Area, largely because it is the only well known non-breeding area for the Australian sarus crane. We investigated spatial and temporal patterns of use of this landscape for foraging by the two species to determine how they might be affected by changes in cropping. Abundances of the species were positively correlated with each other over both time and space. Sarus cranes were nevertheless markedly more abundant on the fertile volcanic soils of the central Tablelands, whilst brolgas were more abundant on a variety of soils in outlying cropping areas close to roost sites, especially in the south-west of the region. Both species used a wide variety of crops and pastures but occurred at highest densities on ploughed land and areas from which crops (especially maize) had been harvested. In addition, brolgas were also strongly associated with early-stage winter cereals with volunteer peanuts from the previous crop. We conclude that maize and peanut crops are important as foraging sites for both species during the non-breeding season, a situation that requires management in the interest of both cranes and farmers, especially as cropping patterns intensify and agricultural technology changes. However, we also note that flocking on the Atherton Tablelands indicates that brolgas and sarus cranes are likely to be adaptable to change and able to take advantage of newly created cropping areas.

Farming and cranes on the Atherton Tablelands, Australia

Australia’s two cranes, the brolga (Antigone rubicunda) and Australian sarus crane (Antigone antigone gillae), form dry-season flocks on the Atherton Tablelands in north Queensland, Australia, where they forage almost exclusively amongst planted crops. The long-term relationship between cranes and farmers is therefore critical to their conservation, especially as the cranes can sometimes cause significant economic damage to crops. We interviewed farmers to explore their current attitudes to cranes and their intentions for land use that might affect the birds. We found that most farmers tolerated the cranes, particularly when they feed among stubble. Most, however, are increasing the efficiency of their agronomic practices, harvesting combinable crops such as maize and peanuts in ways that are beginning to reduce post-harvest crop residues. There is also a rapid trend away from field crops to perennial and tree crops that have a higher return per unit area. Both trends may reduce foraging opportunities for the cranes and, unless managed effectively, are likely to increase the potential for damage and conflict with farmers in the field crops that remain.

PHARMACOKINETICS OF PIROXICAM IN CRANES (FAMILY GRUIDAE).

To investigate the pharmacokinetics of the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) piroxicam in cranes, three brolgas (Antigone rubicunda) were administered piroxicam as a single oral dose at 0.5 mg/kg and 1.0 mg/kg during separate trials. Serial blood samples were collected for quantification of piroxicam in plasma. Piroxicam was readily absorbed at both dosages, and no adverse effects were observed. Plasma concentrations peaked at 3.67 hr with a concentration of 4.00 μg/ml for the lower dosage, and at 0.83 hr at 8.77 μg/ml for the higher dosage. Piroxicam may exhibit linear kinetics and dose proportionality in brolgas, but will require further study. Mean peak plasma concentrations in brolgas were comparable to concentrations demonstrated to be analgesic in humans. To the authors' knowledge, this study represents the first pharmacokinetic investigation of piroxicam in an avian species.

이주노동자의 심리적 안녕에 영향을 미치는모국문화유지행동 - 모국문화유지행동의 긍정성에 관한 실증연구 -

This paper is the thesis having characteristic of reporting empirical result on the effect of the behavior of maintaining native culture on the psychological wellbeing of immigrant labor in the situation that the empirical study on the immigrant labor who have become high in the ratio of immigrant in Korea is few.In order to accomplishment this goal, an empirical study is implemented. The data for an empirical study is obtained from the survey on 146 immigrant labor from Myanmar and Vietnam.The summary of empirical study’s results is follows. 1) ‘the media behavior that is related with native nation’ and ‘the persistence of native nation’ only had the positive effect on the psychological wellbeing significantly.2) ‘the eating native food’ had the negative effect on the psychological wellbeing significantly. 3) ‘the meeting with native companions’ had or did not have the positive effect on the psychological wellbeing significantly in two models that are different in variables of ‘the media behavior that is related with native nation’ considered. The discussion and the implication of these results, the limitation of this study and the direction of future study were suggested.

Assessing capture and tagging methods for brolgas, Antigone rubicunda (Gruidae)

Context Studies assessing welfare issues and efficiency of animal capture methods are important, as capture can pose a significant welfare risk and methods can be time consuming to develop. It is imperative to choose methods that minimise injuries, maximise capture rates and minimise time spent on capture. Aims To test methods of crane capture and tagging (transmitter, colour and metal band fitting), and to compare and develop safe and time efficient methods for capturing brolgas (Antigone rubicunda). Methods We tested three types of noose traps, cannon nets, clap-nets, spotlighting at night roosts and active pursuit of pre-fledged chicks. We also tested two band sizes and two transmitter attachment methods. We compared the success and capture efficiency of these methods and considered welfare issues by comparing the number of injuries and mortalities resulting from these methods. Key results We successfully captured brolgas with noose traps and a cannon net, and by using active pursuit of pre-fledged chicks. Noose traps became more efficient when deployed with call playback and taxidermy decoys. Australian noose traps and active pursuit of pre-fledged chicks were the safest methods with fewest injuries. Conclusions For maximum capture success with minimum injuries to target and non-target species, we recommend noose traps with call playback and taxidermy decoys for capturing adult and juvenile brolgas at feeding areas, and active pursuit for pre-fledged chicks at breeding sites. Noose lines should have elastic at both pegged ends, to avoid injuries. To minimise injuries from tagging, we recommend leg-band-fitted transmitters in preference to harness-fitted transmitters, Australian size 35 bands and colour bands with an internal diameter of 22 mm. Implications The use of Australian noose traps with call playback and taxidermy decoys is a safe and time efficient method for capturing brolgas, and is also likely to work for other crane species. Our recommendations can help reduce capture-related mortalities and injuries to brolgas (and potentially other cranes), which is crucial, given the brolga is a threatened species.

Native companions: Blandowski, Krefft and the Aborigines on the Murray River expedition

This paper explores relations between Blandowski, Krefft and the Aborigines during the 1856-57 Murray River expedition. As with many scientific enterprises in Australia, Aboriginal knowledge made a substantial contribution to the success of the expedition. While Blandowski generously acknowledged this, Krefft, who was responsible for the day to day running of the camp, maintained his distance from the Aborigines. The expedition context provides an insight into tensions between Blandowski and Krefft, and also into the complexities of the colonial project on the Murray River, which involved Aborigines, pastoralists, missionaries and scientists.

Climate variability during the Last Glacial Maximum in eastern Australia: evidence of two stadials?

AbstractA high‐resolution, multiproxy record encompassing the last glacial–interglacial transition is presented for Native Companion Lagoon, a coastal site in subtropical eastern Australia. Rates of aeolian sedimentation in the lake were established by trace element analyses of lacustrine sediments and used as a proxy for aridity. In conjunction with sediment moisture content, charcoal and pollen these provide a multi‐decadal record of palaeoenvironmental variability for the period 33–18 k cal. yr BP. Results indicate that the Last Glacial Maximum in eastern Australia spanned almost 10 k cal. yr, and was characterised by two distinct cold dry events at approximately 30.8 k cal. yr BP and 21.7 k cal. yr BP. Provenance of selected sediment samples by trace element geochemical fingerprinting shows that continental sourced aeolian sediments originated primarily from South Australia during these cold events and from sites in central Australia during the intervening time. Used in combination with a pollen record, the provenance of long‐travelled dust to mainland sites shows that the two cold events were characterised by frequent meridional dry southwesterly winds rather than zonal westerly airflow as previously believed. The intervening period was cool and humid, which we infer as being associated with more frequent southeasterly winds of maritime origin. These results lend support to previous research that indicates the Southern Hemisphere experienced a period of widespread climatic amelioration at the height of the last glacial known as the Antarctic Isotopic Maximum. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Aeolian sedimentation and climate variability during the late Quaternary in southeast Queensland, Australia

A 25 000 yr record of aeolian sedimentation for coastal southeast Queensland, Australia is presented from Native Companion Lagoon, North Stradbroke Island. Using the easily distinguished geochemistry of the local quartz sands, we reconstruct the first terrestrial record of both local and far traveled aeolian sedimentation for the Australian region. The deposition intensity of long traveled dust sourced from mainland sites during the Last Glacial Maximum was found to be comparable to rates archived in Antarctic ice cores, which exhibit a 2 to 20 fold increase over current deposition. A mid to late Holocene arid phase is also identified indicating that climate variability during the Neoglacial had a profound impact on coastal aeolian systems in eastern Australia, as well as mainland dust sources. We attribute this to severe and prolonged drought during the Neoglacial and postulate an enhanced south-westerly airflow as a mechanism for such change. The record reflects the responsive nature of the Australian environment and its aeolian systems to climatic variability on short timescales.

Samuel Hearne (1745-1792)

... Hearne was born in 1745 in London. He was an indifferent schoolboy and at the age of eleven was in the Royal Navy under the command of Admiral Samuel Hood. He saw action during the Seven Years War but left the Navy and, in 1766, became an employee of the Hudson's Bay Company, which sent him to Fort Prince of Wales at the mouth of the Churchill River. ... During its first century the Company had made no determined attempt to penetrate the interior and only the most half-hearted excursions were sent to seek Anian. By the 1730s, however, significant opposition to Company sovereignty and its implementation of its charter obligations had arisen in both England and America. Arthur Dobbs, Surveyor-General of Ireland, initiated a twenty-year struggle to force the Company to meet its charter terms. His challenges generated enough interest to induce the House of Parliament to offer a prize of 20,000 [Pounds Sterling] for the discovery of a strait. He applied for and was granted permission to lead an expedition into the North, accompanied by two white men and certain Indians, to "promote ... our trade, as well as for the discovery of a North West Passage, Copper Mines, etc. ..." The attempt was a humiliating failure. Two hundred miles northwest of the fort the Indians robbed the white men and left them to reach safety as best they could. Hearne began again in February 1770, with only native companions. He got three hundred miles inland and four hundred miles north of the Churchill before he was robbed. He turned toward home. Nevertheless, it was the farthest north any European had yet explored inland North America. On the return to the Churchill, Hearne met Matonabbee, an important Chipewyan chief, who offered to guide a third attempt toward the Arctic. Norton agreed and between December 1770 and June 1772 Hearne - again the only white man - headed an expedition across the Barren Grounds. ... Starvation and death in arctic storms were constant attendants, but in the end he was at the mouth of the Coppermine River on Coronation Gulf. ... But he had paid a price. He had watched the butchery of Eskimos at Bloody Falls on the Coppermine River and seen starvation decimate his companions. And he was to see his work sneered at by the scientific and military worlds. Among other criticisms, they said there could be no plant life where he reported because there was none on Greenland in that latitude; the sun could never by visible for twenty-four hours as he said; and the Indians could not possibly roam over such vast areas as he claimed. ... Samuel Hearne was the first European to cross the Barren Grounds to the Arctic and thus prove there is no waterway through our continent. He discovered and charted many major lakes, including Great Slave Lake where Matonabbee Point and Hearne Channel credit his work. His record of natural history of the Barren Grounds and the peoples who roamed over them stands unchallenged, and the establishment of Cumberland House saved the great Company from failure and set it on its way to its present eminence as the longest lived commercial venture of all time.

Emile Petitot (1838-1916)

... Emile Fortune Stanislas Joseph Petitot entered the Congregation of the Oblate Missionaries of Mary-Immaculate in 1860. Fourteen days after his ordination, Petitot left France for the Mackenzie River, where he lived for the next twelve years, based at missions in Fort Providence, Fort Resolution, and principally Fort Good Hope. His accomplishments during his stay were remarkable. He collected material for his Dictionnaire de la langue Dene-dindjie, a dictionary of the major Athapaskan languages; Petitot's work still remains the best available in the field. Les Traditions indiennes du Canada Nord-Ouest records extensive legends from the Hare, Chipewyan, Loucheux, Dogrib, Cree, and Blackfoot cultures, all gathered during this period. Rarely at the missions, he travelled widely with native companions, often into territory completely unknown to both Petitot and his guides. ... Attending to the physical, as well as spiritual, well-being of the Indians, Petitot nursed them when they were sick, and supplied them with necessary food and clothing. Although suffering from an abdominal rupture, he designed, decorated, and helped build the Good Hope Chapel, declared an official historic site in 1981. In June 1870 he journeyed from Fort MacPherson to Lapierre House in the face of strong resistance from the Protestants, who considered that territory as inviolably theirs. His maps of the vicinity of Great Slave Lake, of the Anderson River, and of the western branches of the Yukon are remarkably accurate. Travelling between the Mackenzie and Liard rivers, he charted the Petitot River, named in his honour. He corrected and completed the maps of his precursors, notably Sir John Franklin. The Riviere La Ronciere-Le Noury, which Petitot discovered in 1868 and placed on the map in 1875, was later denied any existence. Over 30 years after Petitot's discovery, the mouth of a large river (the Hornaday) was found to empty into Darnley Bay east of the supposed mouth of Petitot's Ronciere, although the river's course was not extensively surveyed beyond its mouth. ... The pace of Petitot's northern life could not continue indefinitely. Exhausted after twelve years in the North, he returned to France in 1874, where he arranged for the publication of his dictionaries and numerous other works. ... He also received at this time a silver medal from the Societe de Geographie de Paris for his map of arctic regions. On 24 March 1876, Petitot again embarked for the North. But his health was broken and his great period of geographical discovery had come to a close. ... ill health ultimately demanded that he give up missionary work entirely. ... The geography of the country and the ethnology of its people were Petitot's primary northern interests, but he also made substantial contributions to our knowledge of the geology, paleontology, zoology, and botany of the region. ...

Review of *Native Companions* and *Judith Wright* by A.D. Hope

Native Companions is a lively and stimulating book, a selection of reviews, radio talks, occasional lectures and articles on Australian literature written by A.D. Hope over a period of three decades. Most readers are likely to see in these selections something more than the merely ephemeral 'period interest' the author attributes to them in his brief Preface. In fact the book makes readily accessible, for the first time, something of the range and depth of Hope's interests in Australian writing. And as with most creative writers who write criticism, many of the pieces reprinted here illuminate attitudes and preoccupations in Hope's own poetry as well as in the work of the writers they deal with. This is particularly true of the first three pieces in the volume, which raise general issues about the creative writer's relationship to his world by focussing directly on autobiographical concerns. The volume also provides some fine examples of Hope's unique prose style: his personal blend of formality and informality, his lightly worn scholarship, his imaginative flair for unusual analogies and for witty and pointed anecdotes.

Breeding the Australian crane: Grus rubicunda: at Melbourne Zoo

Breeding the Australian crane: Grus rubicunda: at Melbourne Zoo

Brolga Breeding in the Geelong District

Brolga Breeding in the Geelong District